Kevein Books and Reviews

Susanna's Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond shot into fame when the movie ‘Saat Khoon Maaf’ featuring Priyanka Chopra hit the box office. It is said that the movie was inspired by this five-page short story. Well, it is, but if you read the story and see the movie you will feel the difference as well as like the short story over the movie. The narrator watches a big mansion in ruin, with a tomb inside it. He was a kid since then he has been seeing it like that only. On the tomb stated the generosity of the interred lady who donated and done for orphanages, churches, etc. He wants to know about the mansion and the tomb where no one goes, and tall wild grass, shrubs, and trees have obscured the pathways intensely. In the neighborhood lives a furniture maker, Naushad. His father used to make and supply furniture for the people living in the mansion. Upon asking, Naushad reveals that the tomb is of a famous lady Susanna, who was known for having seven husbands in one life. He ins...

Skeleton in the Cupboard is a short story covered in the book ‘Secrets’ by Ruskin Bond. The story is all about solving a mystery that revolves around a skeleton found in the old storeroom of the Hotel Green’s. That time the young Ruskin was away in Shimla at his boarding school. He communicated with his mother, who was the manager of the hotel, through letters to gain extensive knowledge about the skeleton. Through letters it became clear that the skeleton was of a woman’s and some newspapers were found wrapped around it circa 1930. The question was who could be that woman? The hotel’s first owner Mr. Green was a lady killer: he had charming persona and polished manners. He was into extra-marital affairs. His wife one day disappeared. Mr. Green died in a ship accident while going to England during the Second World War. Thus, Ruskin and his mother assumed that the skeleton was Mrs. Green’s. It was concluded that Mr. Green killed his wife to get the love of other women or he pa...

At Green’s Hotel is a short story covered in the book ‘Secrets’ by Ruskin Bond. In this story Ruskin describes his early life in Dehra where he used to come to spend winter vacation from Shimla’s boarding school. His step father had been away – actually he had disappeared – and his mom has had really difficult time managing finances of the home. She had taken up a job in a shanty hotel called Green. In 1930s the hotel had had its best ever possible days otherwise it was in shackles and the owner who had another business in Delhi was least cared about it. Most of the workers there had been without salary for over three months. His mother was getting four hundred rupees monthly. Instead of the servant quarters, Ruskin was given a small room in the hotel. Though the business of the hotel was fiddling, also the hotel’s facilities and interiors were in dire need of revamp. The hotel was never occupied to its limit. However, Mrs. Deeds family, poor Anglo-Indian, had been staying th...

The Late Night Show is a short story covered in the book Secrets by Ruskin Bond. As the story opens, the author puts forward various reasons for murdering people. Among all, insanity is also one of the reasons. However, greed is the topmost reason. The narrator is a schoolboy, after having finished his school, he is staying with his mother in the Green Hotel, and she is a manager there. In Dehradun, Odeon cinema hall is popular for American and British movies in the 1940s. The boy develops a good rapport with the cinema hall’s usher cum ticket checker. For this reason, the usher lets him slip in every night for the movie without a ticket. To return the favour, the boy brings a bottle of beer for him, because at the hotel he has a good rapport with the bartender, Melaram. Since he goes to Odeon every night, he develops a good sense of its interiors and the kind of public that comes there. One person intrigues him. He comes there quite often wearing suit and coat and a hat on h...

The best thing about Ruskin Bond’s stories is that they aren’t empty, rather they carry beautiful message about humanity, childhood, and nature. Nature is an imminent part of his stories and he always emphasis (directly or subtly) through his stories that nature be preserved, not to be destroyed. Through the short story ‘A Tiger in the lounge’, Ruskin tries to say that the population of tigers has gone down drastically in India. A carefree boy who lives in the Green Hotel of Dehradun meets retired Colonel Wilkie. They are drinking beer in the Green Hotel. The colonel tells him that this place once had a plenty of tigers ten-fifteen years ago but not now because of hunting and deforestation. Colonel Wilkie says that he had shot a tiger in the same hotel twenty years ago. The boy finds it tough to believe him. As the story goes, one winter morning Colonel Wilkie was relaxing in the verandah of the hotel when he saw a tiger approaching him from the mustard field. Before enteri...

Over the Wall is a lengthy story covered in the book ‘Secrets’ by Ruskin Bond. It is a soulful story with themes like compassion and humanity. The time period of the story is of around ten years, like from pre-independence to post independence of India. The narrator is a ten-year-old boy who comes down to Dehradun from Shimla to spend three-month long winter vacation at his granny’s bungalow. They are Anglo-Indians. Around the granny’s house, he sees two more bungalows from over the wall. Melvilles’ bungalow has vibrant environment: in that house people come and go and parties take place. The second bungalow is of Johnsons. Their front and backyard is not neat and tidy, grass and shrub have been grown all over the corners. Except dhobi and cooks, no other people enter their premises and evening parties never take place. In the backyard, at a distance of some yards, there is a hut-like cottage and the window of that cottage opens up at the time of receiving food otherwise it remains s...

The Canal is a short story featured in the book ‘Secrets’ by Ruskin Bond. The story is about some adolescent boys’ frolic activities in and around a canal in Dehradun. Ruskin (the narrator) and some of his friends used to bath and while away time in that canal during simmer time. The canal used to come from the mountains up the valley. The canal was famous because once it was a battle point and historians called it Nalapani. Well, the gang of boys called it Panipat battle point, since they were weak at history lessons. Their only interruption to the fun was Miss Gamla. The canal flowed touching the backside edge of her house. There were a lot of pot plants in her house and for this reason the boys called her Miss Gamla. She was around sixty year old spinster. Because of her presence, boys hardly ever bathed in full nakedness. At the sight of grown up boys, she felt upset. Boys’ noise often disturbed her afternoon siesta. She would often warn them to be off but boys never listen...

Bhabhji’s House is a short story by Ruskin Bond featured in the book ‘Rusty Comes Home’.  The story is set against the newly settling Delhi of 1950s post-independence, and focuses on the values and the chores that take place on a daily basis in a traditional joint family. Rusty is more of like a wanderer; he has no permanent place to live in Delhi; thus, one day he walks down from Connaught Place to Rajauri Garden, covering around eight miles, and reaches the home of his friend, Kamal. He begins living there with him, in his big home, and the family that live there is huge. Through the story one point has been made clear that no one can live smoothly in a joint family where cots are snatched away at the crack of the day to place in the garden only to be re-laid at dusk; a number of children wailing and prancing around toughens the concentration on anything the person is doing, and above all women will never obey the senior lady and the senior lady will never cease to lament the...

Most Beautiful by Ruskin Bond is a short story covered in the Rusty series book: Rusty Comes Home. The basic theme of the story highlights the bitter truth about this world that it is cruel and unforgiving to weak and mentally-challenged people. One day the narrator sees some young urchins pelting stones and making fun of a deformed and mentally-challenged boy not older than thirteen. Unable to withstand the suffering of that boy, the narrator intervenes angrily and saves him, since the boy is unable to speak up properly thus on the basis of gestures he takes him to his home. A beautiful woman in her mid-thirties opens the door and understands the situation beforehand. She thanks him and says that Suresh, the boy, is the only child of their and his father is rather disappointed with him. When father comes, he cares nothing much about the boy but appreciates the narrator’s efforts. After some days the narrator becomes a frequent visitor of their home and often takes the boy out ...

The Story of Madhu is a short story written by Ruskin Bond, this story has been featured in ‘Rusty Comes Home’. It is a tale of two orphans. The narrator is on self-exile and feels no threads of love in his life; loneliness is probably his best companion. A sweet young girl of about nine lingers around his house and he observes her from beneath the mango tree in his garden. After a few days an acquaintance has been formed between them. The girl is poor as she wears torn clothes and lives in a hut with an old lady, who is over a hundred years old. The name of the girl is Madhu and she was found on the banks of Tank by the old lady who then took her as a daughter. The narrator arranges a teacher from nearby to teach Madhu under the mango tree for an hour so. He also gifts her various items and sometimes clothes. The narrator has formed compassion for her and wants her to grow in life. They soon become so friendly that she reads her lessons and asks numerous funny questions to him...

The Crooked Tree by Ruskin Bond is a short story about beating the distressing time in life. After having spent some years in Delhi; Rusty, the struggling writer, longs to feel fresh air and see the mountains, so he comes down to Shahganj. He lives in a small room and has friendship with some of the local guys, like Deep Chand, the barber. One morning on a walk, he finds a man lying between the farm fields. He helps him with sups of water and then asks him for taking medicine and tells him to live with him. The guy is Ketan. He often gets the fits of epileptic which keeps him in a weak state. He is a student of high school and hopes to clear the examination this year. He is hopeful that education will bring a promising career for him, so that he can apply for the posts like clerk, etc. He attends the school in day and in the evening he works in a cloth shop. He is an orphan , so there is no one who can support him logistically. He had lost his parents in the heat of partition at Amr...

Cricket for the Crocodile by Ruskin Bond is a humorous tale. Beside a park where city boys and village boys gather to play cricket matches in acute rivalry, is a river in which dwells Nakoo, the lazy crocodile. Whenever boys come around the river bank to find a lost ball or for just splashing in water, Nakoo feels insecure, nervous and thus angrily swims across to the other side of the bank. On one hand, he doesn’t like human beings disturbing his dwelling place, while on the other hand he wishes to devour their limbs that seem promisingly juicy flesh; moreover, Nakoo is fed up of eating fish and birds. Nakoo loves basking in the sun. He often comes out in the park and his best place to rest is the cricket pitch since he also loves the smooth touch of soil on his underneath belly. He lazes around there for days. His presence on the pitch rankle the boys. To add to their misery, they find it tough to have him go, they throw pebbles and stones at him, but he seems immovable. ...

A Face in the Dark by Ruskin Bond is a very popular short story that has been passed on from one generation to another. It falls in the purview of mystery and suspense genre. Through this story the author asserts that even people powerful and non-believers of evil spirits go blank or have their heart attack when confronted by strange and horrible situations. Mr. Oliver, an Anglo Indian, is a teacher in a reputed public boarding school for several years in Shimla. He is a strong personality and easily shoos away the gossips of ghosts and devils. His cottage isn’t far from the school gate. He is a bachelor! A strong personality that staunchly dwells on individualism! Shimla bazaar is a chirpy market full of high standard restaurants and cinema halls. People generally don’t take shortcut routes to reach home in the darkness, especially when heavy winds susurrate through the pine trees which make sad and strange noises. Contrary to all beliefs, Mr. Oliver always takes the sho...

The short story ‘All You Need is Paper’ by Ruskin Bond is a part of the Rusty series book: Rusty Comes Home. Rusty left Dehra for England when he was twenty or so comes back to the city after publishing his first novel in England at the age of twenty four. This story contrasts the difference between the life he spent in England and now the life he is leading in Dehradun. Rusty recollects life in England was quite lonely: one have had no noisy company of neighbors and had to walk down the street to have had meals and to kill time cinema was the only option. On the other hand, in Dehra he can find chirpiness all around, every time. Ruskin takes a dig at the uncertainty of future when he remembers his teenage friends of Dehra - all of them disappeared one by one in search of good life that meant career and fortune - since no one loves to onboard the simple life with limited money and where the hope of making fortune is always in the fog. Even his favourite and very simple frie...

Uncle Ken inherits a home in the hills of Mussoorie for Rusty. Thus, Rusty still struggling as a writer goes there to check the home and liking it he settles down there. One morning he sees Prem Singh uphill spreading mattresses; upon recognizing him he recollects the old days when they were together for eight years, then Prem was an innocent sixteen-year-old hilly boy. Prem’s tidy appearance and clean behavior sets him apart from the other working boys that impress Rusty; thus, he promises to find a job for him. Since Prem’s uncle was working in his house so he said that he cannot take him by firing his uncle. After a week or so when he happens to meet Prem, he is working for survey tents and soon to go to Rajasthan, a hot and unlikely place for the people from hills. But he is in great need of money. He needs it for marriage and is hopeful that his wife will support his family that consists of an ill mother and a younger brother. In this story Ruskin Bond has tried to expres...

Listen to the Wind by Ruskin Bond is short story covered in the book: Rusty Comes Home. Listen to the Wind explores the mysteries associated with Pari Tibba, a famous hill top in Mussoorie where the narrator lives. As the narrator says the month of March is considered unpleasant in the hills because it brings torrential rain with cold wind. One evening he goes to one of his neighbor's cottage, Mrs. Pettibone, an old lady who was lying in her bed with three hot water bottles to her company since there was no fireplace lit at her home and the chimney was silent. As they both converse, the weather outside turns horrendous and scary. It is raining in torrents, and the occasional thunderstorm lightning is provoking fear in their hearts. Mrs. Pettibone says that Pari Tibba - meaning burnt hill is a haunted place - whosoever goes there for settlement dies of lightning. To prove her point, she begins narrating the story of Robert. Robert was a young Englishman of around...

The Tunnel is a short story written by Ruskin Bond covered in the novella ‘The Road to the Bazaar’. Tranquility in nature and duty are two major themes nicely conveyed in this story. Suraj wants to see the train passing through the tunnel, hence he comes to a small village from Dehradun on a bicycle and from there he walks up to a hill mound. He stands at the exit of the tunnel and when the train enters and passes through and fades away in the distance, he feels the true peace of the jungle. When the train passes through the jungle, the trees tremble in the steam it throws out, the railway tracks lay shivering for some time. He walks through the tunnel. At the entry is a hut in which lives Sunder Singh, the tunnel watchman, his duty is to check the tunnel before a train passes through it. He does it twice a day, one for the day train and next for the night train that crosses the tunnel at nine. Sunder tells that jungles are peaceful and safer than cities. He was almost run o...

Having failed to make a reasonable source of income from writing stories and novels during his stay in Dehra after returning from London, the narrator Rusty comes down to Delhi to see some success in his slow-moving career. Th story - Summertime in Old New Delhi - is a part of ‘Rusty Comes Home’ book, this story shuttles between a couple of time accounts: childhood days spent with his father, and as a young grown-up writer moved to Delhi for a promising writing career. It does not chronicle the events but certainly throws the reminiscences of his early unsettled life. Well placed in the settling Delhi: it describes the post partition situation when people from the other side were stacking up in the newly formed capital of India. Very subtly Ruskin Bond takes the readers on a ride to see the 1940s and 1950s eras, all memories. Well in 1940s, he came with his father to live in a RAF tent in the outskirts of the city, near Qutab Minar, he remembers then there were no buildings only sc...

Jai comes to his grandparents’ home up in the valley to while away the October holiday. He loves reading books as well as roaming across the jungles in the hills. At his grandparents’ home, his main task is to take the cattle out for grazing. And to accompany him, is a shaggy, bear-like dog, because of his size Jai and others call him Motu. The valley in which they take their cattle for grazing is recently terrorized by two big golden eagles. The eagles keep watch on their prey and when things are set they attack silently. Their preparation seldom leaves a way for any error. Pheasants, foxes, snow-cocks, pine martens, and lambs so far have been their victims. The eagles rule the sky – they are bold and equally fearless. And only a skilled hunter can reduce them to ashes. So one day when he was not so careful, busy gathering strawberries, the eagle taking the advantage of the situation attacks a tiny lamb and flies away it. Jai and Motu realizing the horror and loss run af...

On a cold and frosty evening, the narrator is equivocal about attending a Christmas party at Kapadias. Outside, the roads are wet with patches of snow, making him more to stick with his lethargy. Somehow he musters up courage and wears double sweaters, rolls up a scarf, and put the overcoat. From his cottage the destination is about a mile. While walking alone he meets a girl midway, who too is going for the party. She introduces herself as Julie. She must be around sixteen or seventeen years of old, the narrator thinks. The narrator is new to the hilly place; thus, he finds it difficult to sketch her background in his mind. At the party everyone thinks that Julie is a friend of the narrator and he thinks that she knows Kapadias personally. She is scarcely eating or drinking anything but enjoying the music and dance. At midnight, the narrator is over-the-top drunk and starts back for home. Julie comes with him. At midpoint, she takes another route – she says her home address is...